AUGUSTA — A city-owned camp on the shore of Three Cornered Pond is being used to help raise funds for Bicentennial Nature Park.

Two weeklong stays at the camp are being raffled off to raise operating money for the city-run public park.

A raffle to stay at the city of Augusta’s camp on Three Cornered Pond is being held to raise funds for Bicentennial Nature Park. A maximum of 200 tickets will be sold at $25 for two chances to win one of the six-night stays at the furnished camp. Drawing will be June 8. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

Kristin Lamontagne hits the water of Three Cornered Pond after coming off the slide at Bicentennial Nature Park in Augusta. The city park is open to Augusta residents and their invited guests who must be in the company of an Augusta resident. The park on Route 3 is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Labor Day weekend. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The city acquired the two-bedroom camp when it bought the 27-acre site in 1997 to build the park, which features swimming and picnic areas.

“The camp is used sparingly and only with the city manager’s permission,” said Leif Dahlin, city services director. “This seemed like an appropriate use because it benefits the park directly.”

The private nonprofit group Friends of Bicentennial Nature Park is conducting the fundraiser. A maximum of 200 tickets will be sold at $25 for two chances to win one of the six-night stays at the furnished camp, which has hot water, electricity, a small dock, and comes with the use of a canoe, life preservers and paddles.

It sits only a few feet from Three Cornered Pond. Though it is within the city-owned park, it is separated from the swimming and other public areas.

“We thought raffling (off time in the camp) would attract a lot of people. It’s a beautiful, private lakefront cabin,” said Cheryl Clukey, a leader of the Friends group. “If it works, we hope to do it every year.”

Dahlin said neither city staff nor elected city officials are allowed to stay at the camp overnight. Sometimes staff meetings are held there during the day, and the city has occasionally allowed overnight use, such as allowing contractors working on city projects to stay there instead of putting them up in a hotel.

Dahlin said it would be problematic for the city to sell the camp, because the only access is through the park.

The park was closed during the summer of 2012 to save money. The closure is part of what is driving park supporters to raise funds to help defray the cost of operating it.

Supporters successfully lobbied to have the park reopened the next summer, and they committed to raise $5,000 each year for its operations. The city also charges a fee for season and day passes to the park, which brings in about $3,000 a year, Dahlin said.

Tickets for the raffle must be bought before the June 8 drawing. They are available at Buker Community Center or by calling Clukey at 441-0337.

The park opens for the season June 20.

Clukey and Dahlin said the park is underutilized, and they’d like to see more people use it, especially children. Daily attendance, per an agreement with other property owners on Three Cornered Pond, is limited to 150 people a day, a maximum that has never been reached.

“We want more people to use it. People seem to think it is 20 miles away, but it’s not. It’s just six miles from the city center,” Clukey said. “This is a beautiful park, and it is underutilized right now. Augusta doesn’t have a lot of access to a natural setting with water like this. There are a lot of needy kids and families in Augusta, and this provides great access. Yes, the city has swimming pools, but kids should be in nature.”

Clukey proposed to the Augusta City Council in March to allow non-residents to purchase passes to use the park, both as a way to raise more money for the park and to increase its use.

She said residents of nearby towns such as Windsor and Chelsea asked if they could use the park. She suggested the city could charge non-residents roughly double the cost of admission charged to residents.

City councilors haven’t taken action on the proposal.

The park will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fees are: Family, $25 for the season, $8 per carload a day; youth, $10 for the season or $1 a day; adult, $15 for the season or $2 a day; and senior citizens and veterans, $7.50 for the season or $1 a day.

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